Music Review: 'Deepa' (1992)

Troop first hit the charts as teens, and now, veterans in their 20s, they seem to be having an image rethink. Their third album, Deepa, opens with upbeat, synth-propelled, R&B-pop bonbons about how and why they love their girls. And ''Whatever It Takes (to Make You Stay),'' already a hit, is a buoyantly seductive overture that reeks of good intentions. But for most of the disc Troop puts the brakes on kind and gentle riffs and careens headfirst into more adult (read: overtly sexual) turf. The, ahem, highlight is the title cut, a six-minute-plus ''do me'' opus, complete with orgasmic panting that would make a porn star blush. Much more honest and mature than this clumsy and obvious stab at ecstasy is the PG-rated slow jam, ''Come Back to Your Home.'' While Troop is entitled to grow up, they're best when they maintain their innocence.